(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cursor display system, and more particularly to a cursor display system adapted to display a cursor on a screen in which a display is turned round through 180 degrees, in accordance with motion of a pointing device operated by an operator.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when some explanation is made for customers, presentation is mainly performed by way of documents. However, with progress of electronization of information, an electronic presentation is more extensively performed, in which the explanation is made while viewing a screen provided by a computer.
In the electronic presentation, a presenter or explainer operates the computer while viewing the screen. The same screen must be viewed by the customer. For example, when presentation is made to the customer face to face by the use of a notebook-sized personal computer having a display device formed in one unit with a body thereof, the operator operates the computer to cause a desired screen to be displayed thereon, and then the personal computer is turned round for the customer to view the display screen.
Further, there are types of computers adapted to permit the display device to be set horizontally for convenience of a face-to-face presentation. For example, there are computers whose display device and computer body including operator control elements can be opened flat, and computers having the display and the body already formed in one flat piece. Such constructions of the computer make it possible for both an operator and a customer to view the same display screen simultaneaously. Further, it is also possible to turn the display screen round through 180 degrees for the customer to view the contents of the display with ease, and as a result, operation and explanation can be made without moving the computer body.
On the other hand, recent application software more often uses a pointing device (coordinates-indicating device), such as a mouse, to point to a particular portion displayed on the screen or to command an execution of a program. However, the use of such a pointing device in the above-described situation of face-to-face presentation causes the following inconveniences in operating the computer:
The pointing device is constructed such that when the operator moves it forward away from him while viewing a screen in front of him, a cursor appearing on the screen moves upward, and when the operator moves it backward to him, the cursor moves downward on the screen. Similarly, when the pointing device is moved rightward or leftward, the cursor on the screen also moves rightward or leftward. Thus, the cursor appearing on the screen is moved in the same or analogous manner as the pointing device operated by the operator is moved. Therefore, in the face-to-face presentation, if the operator intends to use the pointing device after the display on the screen has been turned round through 180 degrees for the customer to properly view the contents of display, the operator views the screen from the wrong or inverted side. Accordingly, the cursor displayed on the screen also moves in an inverted manner which is opposite to a manner of movement of the pointing device intended for the analogous movement of the cursor as used by the operator. Therefore, the operability of the pointing device becomes very much degraded in such a case.